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The Community (Social Value) Charter

The Social Value Act can be a game changer, but only if communities have a chance to speak and are listened to.

At the moment, most Authorities are still developing their Social Value Strategies with only 30% actually having a strategy in place (see our survey). Of those that do have a strategy, less than 50% have actually consulted with the communities that they represent.

Don’t get me wrong, I am pleased that at least some Local Authorities have a strategy, although almost 2 years in, this still strikes me as a bit pathetic, at least it’s a good starting point. BUT the whole point of the Act is that it is meant to deliver value to Society and who better to decide on the things that are most valuable than Society itself!

Communities need to be given a chance to speak and to have their say in what they want and the changes they would like to see and we are calling for a mass community consultation movement to get these voices heard.

We would like to see each neighbourhood forum, each council ward and each council district develop their own Community (Social Value) Charters by crowd sourcing ideas and options and to hold a series of meetings to vote for the best ideas and that have the most impact.

Local Authorities would be bound to consider these needs, especially if they came up through the proper channels and having spoken to a number of commissioning officers, I know that they would then take the opportunity to include them within their Social Value, Commissioning and Procurement Strategies.

If anyone wants to get involved, get in touch, we want to start the largest community consultation programme ever conducted in the UK!